They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and holy shitballs is my heart fonder of the NFL right now. The NFL schedulers were geniuses in scheduling the New Orleans Saints to visit the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. After the threat of a lost season, people don’t want to see 3-2 defensive quagmires. They want to see offense, offense and more offense. With the Packers beating the Saints 42-34, this game delivered. more ›

Forgive me for I have been an awful Louisianan. Never mind that I haven’t lived there since I was eight nor that the last time I’ve visited has been my dad’s funeral 13 years ago in my childhood town of Zachary, about 20 miles away from Baton Rouge and 100 miles from New Orleans. But the worst of my sins was that I didn’t believe in the Saints in this Super Bowl. more ›

Above the question of Dwight Freeney’s ankle. More than the feel good story of the New Orleans Saints and their effect on the city. Even beyond the ubermensch godlike yet still everyman aura that is Peyton Manning. One question is dogging the minds of sports fans. more ›

Before the game I gave out my predictions for today’s Championship Games on Twitter: Jets to defeat Colts; Saints to defeat Vikings. Of course given my playoff picks the last several weeks, it would only follow that the Colts and Vikings won. Well the Colts did manage to hold off the Jets in convincing 30-17 fashion while the Saints barely squeaked past the Vikings 31-28 in overtime making me 1-1 in my picks for the weekend. more ›

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email. more ›

Mark Williamson is not a nutjob, although when I saw videos of him parading in Times Square trying to break the “Jets Curse” it’s hard not to think he has a screw loose (or two). more ›

LAist contributer and LA Times Bruins and Trojan blogger Adam Rose blogged about an encore presentation Majestic Realty Chairman Ed Roski gave to a group of local business leaders this past Wednesday on the plans for building the Los Angeles Stadium. more ›

LA Dodgers defeat Colorado Rockies 16-10. In an effort to conserve energy, the Colorado Rockies apparently decided to turn of the humidor. The Dodgers came out with a bang scoring eight runs in the first inning. They would go on to take an 11-0 lead in the third inning, but Coors Field being what it is the Rockies would make a comeback. After being shut out for the first two innings, the Rockies scored at least one run in the remaining seven innings but couldn't catch up. Rockie's shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in his first game of the disabled list went 5-5 with a sacrifice fly. The same fortune would be shared with Rockie's starter Kip Wells in his first action since the end of April. He gave up eight runs in that first frame that essentially sealed the deal for the Rockies. The Dodgers pitching fared a little better but not by much. Despite having a 12-3 lead in the fourth inning, Eric Stults was very erratic and was taken out of the game. How did now-retired Hideo Nomo ever pitch a no-no at Coors Field pre-humidor? more ›

Yesterday I was out shopping all day. It was my friend Cathi’s way of staging an intervention for me. All of my friends are concerned that I’ve become so tied to sports, they are doing everything they can to get me out. Yesterday it worked. What can I say? I’m weak when it comes to shopping. Anyhow, I’d like to take this moment to say that I’m a fucking genius. I picked 13 of... more ›

That opening game of the NFL was a kick in the nuts, wasn’t it? The Indianapolis Colts proved their defense wasn’t a mere fluke in last season’s playoff by only allowing the New Orleans Saints offense to only score a field goal in their 41-10 blowout. At least I was right about the Saints having a pretty porous defense. With the exception of the Reggie Wayne fumble that was taken for a touchdown, no... more ›

I know our city hasn’t had an NFL team in over a decade, but that doesn’t mean the NFL is dead in this city. Since most of us Angelinos come from other parts of the country, we still hold on to our hometown football teams. Even though I grew up in Baton Rouge, LA until I was eight, I am a huge Chicago Bears fan. My first recollection of football was Superbowl XX which... more ›

The Dodgers are winning. They’ve won nine of their last 13 games crawling back to 4 ½ games within the NL West lead. It looks like a rosy picture, but I’m still not buying into it. The problem is the Dodgers are merely a singles-hitting team that can only run station-to-station. Of their 1,232 hits 225 are doubles (ranked 13th in the NL), 27 are triples (tied for 8th) and 96 are home runs... more ›

For as long as Pete Carroll's been head coach, the USC Trojans have consistently attracted the top high school football recruits. But Leinart and Jarrett shared a castle, Bush got his God-knows-what, and now this:Southern California is looking into whether it may have violated NCAA recruiting rules while pursuing highly rated recruit Joe McKnight, a university official said. McKnight signed a national letter of intent with USC on Wednesday and made comments during a... more ›

We've written at length about the New Orleans Saints situation, and how we would welcome the Saints in LA under the right circumstances, if they really were unable to play in the Big Easy. But the Hornets are an entirely different matter. more ›

Yesterday, County Supervisor Mike Antonovich suggested the Coliseum play host to the New Orleans Saints this season, while the city recovers from the tragic destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. The NFL rebuffed the offer because it's not feasible for this year. The Saints, for their part, have expressed a desire to play closer to their fans, preferably in Baton Rouge. But some speculate that the team would really like to play in San Antonio, or move to Los Angeles. more ›

The Saints, of course, have used LA for leverage in the past, and the franchise might be using us again. But this time, Saints owner Tom Benson has also suggested San Antonio and Albuquerque as possible relocation sites. more ›

The Chargers will pay less money in rent, but lose their precious ticket guarantee where the city of San Diego actually bought all unsold tickets to Chargers games (yes, San Diego taxpayers, you helped subsidize Ryan Leaf). Additionally, the Chargers will drop their lawsuit against the city which just happened to be filed in Los Angeles, and hope to get a stadium measure on the ballot by 2006. more ›